More and more harm reduction projects are preparing for the possibility of having to shut down because of the uncertainty on the future  

March was a very interesting month for Polish drug policy. As reported in the newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza”, their journalist was able to buy half a gram of heroin on the Silk Road website. Finding a seller only took her a few minutes, with the help of Polish internauts. Next, she only needed to make an order, pay, and wait for a parcel, just like on ebay.

The government declares a great victory in war on drugs, NGOs say criminalization is not the solution 

Last time, we reported that Portugal is facing a very difficult situation due to the economic and financial crisis. The government claims that austerity measures must be introduced because of the international commitments of the country, and as a consequence, funding for harm reduction services has been cut back significantly. Although funding is still a huge problem (mostly because payments are late and NGOs are forced to close projects), the strong and coordinated advocacy efforts of civil society organizations seem to be bearing fruit.  

A unique protest action took place in the Bulgarian Parliament last week against a disproportional sentence – a report from Sofia

Portugal is well known for its progressive drug policy – but the economic crisis may undermine effective harm reduction services in the country. Read a short report from our Portugese partner, APDES, and learn how NGOs fight to keep harm reduction on the agenda!

On November 28 – 29, 2011, the Czech Centre in Bucharest was the host of a two days conference as part of our EDPI project – read the report of our Romanian partner, Valentin Simionov and a Czech researcher, Vendula Běláčková

It seems we need more than supply reduction and law enforcement to stop the flow of cheap research chemicals from China and India – an HCLU report on legal highs in Hungary

Prohibitionist and harm reduction NGOs cooperate to make recommendations to governments on EU drug policies – a report by the HCLU

The Hungarian government decided to reject the progressive drug strategy of the country and to draft a new, prohibitionist one. The head of the Drug Policy Program of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union argues that this is an example how a government should NOT draft a drug strategy.